by Linsey Hall
“I don’t want that.” Still, I didn’t consider quitting this. Not now that we were on the trail of something.
“No, you don’t. So we’ll find some info, and if you’re successful, then we’ll tell her. If you fail, we’ll pretend it never happened.”
“Thanks, Caro. You rock.”
I hadn’t known her long, only a few months. Same for Ali and Haris. But they were awesome. Rowan caught my eye and grinned. I knew she was thinking the same thing that I was—it was good to have friends. We hadn’t had many in our lives, but I could get used to it.
Ali frowned. “But she’ll find out, you know. Jude sees all. So you’d better find something.”
“And it better be good,” Haris added.
Caro scowled at them. “I can always count on you guys to be buzzkills.”
“But we’re right, aren’t we?” Ali asked.
“You are.” Caro turned to me. “I hope you find something big. Big enough to make Jude forget she’s pissed that you broke the rules.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Roger.”
We grabbed a couple sandwiches, then wished the other team good luck.
“Be careful,” Rowan said.
“I promise.” I hugged her, then followed Lachlan from the room.
We hurried up the stairs and through the main entry hall, then out onto the main courtyard.
I turned to Lachlan. “So, where is this land of fairy tales and myths?”
“Bavaria.”
“Of course it is.” I didn’t know where exactly the Brothers Grimm were from, but it was somewhere in Germany.
Lachlan raised his hand, his magic swelling on the air. Sneakily—or at least, I hoped I was sneaky—I sucked in a whiff of his intoxicating forest and leather scent.
Then the portal appeared, and I stepped through. The ether sucked me in and spun me around, then spat me out at the edge of a forest. Though the sun was high in the sky, it was shadowed here. The trees were as gnarled and ancient as those in the Enchanted Forest at the Protectorate, but somehow much, much darker. There were no fairy lights floating between the trees, for one.
Lachlan appeared next to me, nearly bowling me over.
“Sorry.” I stepped aside, realizing that I’d forgotten to get out of the way of the portal exit. “The forest just…”
“Distracted you?” Lachlan studied the trees that were about ten feet away from us, but somehow, they felt miles. “I can see why.”
“What is it about this place?” I sniffed the air, trying to get a sense for the type of magic that surrounded me.
All I caught was the rich scent of dirt and the fresh scent of leaves. The air was completely still, though, with an eerie quality that suggested we were being watched.
“I have no idea.” Lachlan stepped toward the trees. “It’s a strange magic, though.”
“No kidding. Which way do we go?”
“We head east through the forest, to start.”
“All right, then.” I shivered as I followed him, inspecting the twisting trunks and branches of the little trees. The bark was pitch-black, and the leaves a dark green. White specs nestled within the leaves, and I squinted upward at them.
We were about a dozen feet inside the forest when I realized what the white specs were.
‘They’re eyes.” A chill raced over my skin.
Lachlan just grinned.
I kept my gaze on the eyes that followed us. The air was still unnaturally still, as if we were sealed in some kind of fancy space chamber. Leaves crunched underfoot, and the eyes seemed to glare.
I drew a dagger from the ether. Just in case.
“Nervous?” Lachlan asked.
“Smart.”
“Aye, you’re that.”
A little gray rabbit peeked out from beneath a bush. It wore a tiny top hat perched jauntily over its long ears.
“And who might you be?” I asked, charmed.
The rabbit bared its teeth, which turned out to be long fangs that had been sharpened into a point. They dripped blood.
I cringed back. “All right, all right.”
“Let’s keep moving,” Lachlan said.
I skirted around the rabbit quickly. “What, you’re afraid of a bunny?”
“You bet your arse I’m afraid of that bunny. He can probably clean a corpse in minutes.”
“He eats the dead?”
“Well, I assume he eats them once they’re dead. Whether or not he makes them dead, I have no idea.”
“This place is officially nuts.”
“I think that devil rabbit is going to be the least of it.”
We walked in silence for nearly an hour, our senses ever alert. The Cats of Catastrophe appeared out of the blue, somehow having made their way to us. I almost asked Muffin, but it seemed like he could read my mind when he shot me a look that clearly said, Magic, dummy.
The Cat Sìth had a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
He and Princess Snowflake III stalked quietly through the leaves, their movements lithe and graceful despite Princess’s bulk and Muffin’s little belly.
Bojangles, on the other hand, was the opposite of stealth. He bounced off the tree trunks like a bouncy ball on steroids, keeping himself entertained as he followed along.
“How do you rob banks with that guy blowing your cover?” I asked.
Muffin looked at me. Bojangles has skills you can’t even imagine.
I stifled a laugh, barely holding it in.
Muffin gave me a look that was entirely unimpressed. You’ll see. If you’re lucky.
I nodded, not wanting to piss off my sidekick. But I definitely didn’t tell him he was my sidekick. That would get my butt kicked. By Princess Snowflake III, if not by him. She wouldn’t even be a sidekick by association.
As we walked, snow began to appear on the ground. Weirdly, it wasn’t falling from the sky, and nothing else about our surroundings changed besides the air growing colder. It was the fastest regional temperature change I’d ever experienced.
The snow became thicker quickly, until I was crunching on top of the semi-frozen crust. Bojangles ran and slid along the top of it, sending it spraying, while Princess Snowflake III minced her way through it. Muffin just plowed forward, head low and determined.
I looked down to check his hairless body, sure to see him shivering, and realized that he was wearing little boots.
“Where’d you get those?” I asked.
Always be prepared. I was a Cat Scout.
“Really?”
Oh, you sweet summer child.
“So, there are no Cat Scouts?”
He just shook his head like I was a moron.
I scowled at him, and he grinned toothily back at me.
Then a drop of red blood landed on the snow in front of his paws. It spread outward, red and bright. He stopped abruptly, back arched, and I stepped back. Dark magic rose on the air, prickly and sharp.
“What the hell—”
5
The red spot grew outward, quickly snaking along with the white snow. Then it rose up, forming the shape of a man. He was built of bloody snow, and he lunged for me, so quickly that I didn’t have a moment to react. His icy body plowed into mine, and I crashed onto the cold ground.
His freezing hands reached for my throat and grasped it, his touch slippery and icy.
I kicked up at his belly, blasting a hole through the snow. But his hands remained gripped, tightening around my throat as my vision blackened.
Muffin lunged for his hands, his little body plowing through the snow that clutched my neck and scattering it.
Gasping, I sat up.
All around, drops of blood fell from the sky, landing on the white ground. Bloody ice men popped up from each drop and lunged for us. Lachlan was already fighting four, his blade cutting through their middles. They tumbled to the ground, but crawled toward him like zombies, their hands dragging their torsos along. He took out two ice men, then raised his hand.
As his
magic swelled on the air, I drew my sword from the ether and lunged for one of the red ice men. His features were rough, but clearly human. Since kill shots weren’t an option—blasting apart their snowy forms was the only way to go—I went for the waist, cutting him in half. They were easier to outrun in that form.
There were dozens of them, though, and I thanked fates for my sidekicks.
The Cats of Catastrophe shrieked as they launched their attacks, flying through the air to plow through the bodies of the ice men. As usual, Princess Snowflake III was covered in blood in seconds, her white fur stained red. Bojangles went after them with the fury of a thousand enraged kittens. He was as awkward as ever, but since this attack was all about brute force, it worked in his favor. He was a whirlwind. Muffin was efficient and quick, claws flying as he leapt from ice man to ice man.
I sliced through the waist of another attacker as the scent of Lachlan’s magic made it smell like Christmas in the forest. The pine scent surged as a glint of silver caught my eye. He was calling on a nearby river, forcing the water into the air. It shot like a jet through the trees, aiming for the ice men. It plowed through one, obliterating it, before heading to another.
I kept an eye on the water as I fought. It plowed through the beasts faster than we could, but there were still so many. I took out one, then spun, kicking another in the chest and sending him flying backward. Red snow flew through the air as his body scattered.
A snowy attacker got me by the arm, squeezing tight. Pain flared, followed by icy cold. I swung my blade, slicing through his arm. The hand stayed clutched around my bicep, continuing to tighten. I kicked at the now one-armed attacker, sending him backward, and rubbed harshly at the snowy hand still attached to me. It crumbled away, amazing me that it had once had the strength to squeeze so tightly.
“This is some miserable freaking magic,” I shouted.
“It’s under control.” Lachlan sliced his blade through an ice man, his other hand raised to control the water that zipped through the forest, taking out our attackers. It avoided the cats, who were flying through ice men like feline trapeze artists.
My muscles ached as I fought, swinging my sword as quickly as I could.
Finally—freaking finally—we took out the last ice man.
The snow around us was coated with red. The dark magic that had pricked on the air faded, and I turned to Lachlan, panting. “That was close.”
“What the hell were these beasts?” He rubbed watery blood off his face from where an ice man’s red snow had flicked onto him.
I dragged my shirt up to rub at my own face, wincing as the cold hit my belly. “I don’t know, but it’s some strong magic. Did your moderately reliable directions not warn you about this?”
He shook his head. “No specifics. Just keep heading east from the edge of the forest. And we might meet some helpful individuals along the way.”
“So, just like a fairy tale.”
He pointed to the bloody snow around us. “A screwed up fairytale.”
“True.”
The Cats of Catastrophe were frantically cleaning the blood off themselves, though Princess Snowflake III didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry. She was the prettiest of them all, with her long white fur and elegant bearing, but she sure didn’t mind a bloody tussle once in a while. Or every day.
Lachlan met my eyes, respect glinting in his dark gaze. “You fight well.”
“Thanks.”
He nodded.
“Let’s keep moving.” My body ached like mad, and I didn’t want these bloody ice men to wake up and start fighting again. Not to mention my chilly skin, which was starting to feel numb.
We hiked quickly through the forest, the cats at our side. It was quiet now that the battle was over, pristine and white. Frankly, it looked like a Christmas card. The glittery kind that I’d always admired, except that we’d never had anyone to send them to.
As we walked, the sense of danger left the air. No way that would last, but for now, it gave me a moment to catch my breath.
“When I met you outside your class, you seemed off,” Lachlan said.
Apparently, he’d already caught his breath. And decided to use it to say probing and insightful observations.
I shot him a look out of the corner of my eye, annoyed and touched at the same time. “Why do you say that?”
“I don’t know. You just had a look about you.”
“Class didn’t go well. Lavender kicked my ass, then I got pissed and whooped hers. With some kind of crazy light magic that I couldn’t control. When I left, she was laid out on the floor.”
“Was she all right?”
“Of course.” I think. “She seemed all right. Mostly. And Jude seemed pissed.”
“She wants you to get a handle on your magic.”
“Duh. It went easier for my sister Bree. She’s a total badass. I think Jude expects me to move as fast as her.” And damn it, I wanted to. I was willing to do whatever it took.
He hiked his thumb over his shoulder. “I saw you back there. You were badass.”
“Thanks. But that wasn’t magic. That was regular old sword fighting.”
“Your magic is totally unheard of and manifests in a different way than most people’s. That’s why you’re having trouble.”
“Um, thanks.” It was nice that he understood, but it wasn’t an excuse for me. In every free moment I’d had, I’d practiced in my room, trying to call out the magic and make it obey my command. It hadn’t worked.
“First chance we get, I’ll help you,” he said. “I have some tricks.”
“Thanks.”
At my side, Muffin meowed. I bet he has some tricks.
“Shhhh.” I kicked a little flurry of snow at him, and he batted it away with his paw, giving me an unimpressed look.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you earlier,” Lachlan said.
“Catching the cloaked figure is more important.”
“I’m not sure about that, but I did get the tracking potion up and running. Hopefully it’ll have some answers soon.”
From up ahead, the sound of voices filtered through the trees. The five of us stopped, frozen. I glanced at Lachlan, brows raised.
He tilted his head, clearly listening. But it was Muffin who spoke. The cat had better hearing. There are seven. All of them freaking out about something.
“Are they a threat?” I whispered.
Muffin scrunched up his face in concentration, which was already pretty wrinkled.
Bojangles hurtled forward, loping through the trees toward the voices.
“Bojangles clearly doesn’t think so,” I whispered.
He likes everyone. Moron. Muffin shook his head, his emerald earring glinting. But they are maybe not a threat.
“Let’s check it out.” I crept forward, keeping my steps silent on the snow. As we walked, the snow disappeared quickly.
The forest floor returned to normal, and the trees grew larger. They were more like healthy oaks now, rather than the twisted and stunted creepy things they had been. The voices came through much louder, and a clearing was coming up.
I snuck behind a large tree and peered out, Lachlan at my side.
In the clearing, there were seven tiny men, all dressed in old-style clothes. They were wailing and arguing, pointing at something in the middle of the clearing I couldn’t see.
Dwarves?
As in, the seven dwarves?
Holy fates.
Bojangles streaked through the clearing, a little orange blur. He plowed through the men, heading for something.
“What the hell?” Lachlan whispered.
The dwarves flipped out.
“A cat!” cried one.
“Help us!” shouted another.
Help?
“Cat! You must help us!” yelled a dwarf wearing a funny bowler hat decorated with twigs.
Bojangles just meowed. I could imagine him, looking up at them with crossed eyes. Who would ask Bojangles to help them?
Fairy tale creatures, that’s who.
I’d always wanted a bunch of mice and birds to clean my house. What I’d gotten was some violent cats to kick demon ass at my side, so I figured it was a win.
But the dwarves sounded desperate.
“Let’s find out what they need.” I couldn’t just leave them. I crept out from behind the tree.
Lachlan followed.
We approached quietly. When I caught sight of the glass coffin, I couldn’t say I was surprised.
A beautiful dark haired woman lay within. The glass top was open, revealing her clearly.
Snow White.
This was what Bojangles had been running toward. He sat on her still chest, peering down at her pale face.
“Hi,” I said.
The dwarves turned, their eyes widening at the sight of me.
“Help us!” cried one. His cheeks were red and round, and he looked like a cheerful Christmas elf. Except for the tears in his eyes. That wasn’t super cheerful.
“We just found her like this!” said another. “Surely, you can help!”
I looked at Lachlan, but it was Muffin who piped up. I’m not kissing her.
Bojangles meowed, then swiped his tongue across her lips. I winced, knowing where that mouth had been. Snow White didn’t sit up. No surprise.
“We’re not her true loves,” Lachlan said. “Isn’t that what wakes her?”
My mind raced, trying to remember the original version of the story. There were a few, but one had always stuck out in my mind. It had been my mother’s favorite, because it was downright hilariously weird.
The dwarves wrung their hands as they looked at me.
“She was poisoned by an apple, right?” I asked.
“We found one by her, yes!”
“Hmmm.” I looked at Lachlan. “There’s a ridiculous version of this tale where the prince shows up right about now—when she’s in the coffin and everything. He’s kind of a creeper and falls in love with her and begs the dwarves to let him take her body back to the castle.”
“Her dead body?”
I nodded, grimacing slightly. “Yeah.”
“Okay. Then what?”
“He carries her off, but partway home, he drops the coffin and she falls out. The shock makes her spit out the apple, and she wakes up. Then he tells her he loves her, and they’re going back to his place to get hitched and live with his mom.”